Draft regulator



A ril 27, 1937. I E 2,078,898 8 DRAFT REGULATOR Filed Oct. 24, 19:54

INVENTOR. URL 0 H. PR ICE.

A TTORNE Y.

2,078,898Y I nnAr'r REGULATOR Bloomington,

Int, assignor to r 33 W illlams Oil-O-Matic Heating corporation l Bloomington,

I? inventionrelates tdlim'provernents in draft regulators for furnaces or boilers and more particularly to; ajdevice'of this character which is automatic in its operation.

thereto.

It has long beenfcustomary to providesome means forregulating the pull or vacuumcreated by the up-draftin a smokestack or chimney upon the fire in the furnace orfboiler connected emeans heretofore employed has consisted in a hand-operated damper mounted within thestackyor pipe connection between the furnace and the chimney: form of abutterfly valve, which, upon manual rotation; partly closes the opening in the stack through which the gasesflfrom the furnace are drawndntoithe chimney j Another means has been to apply a balanced or counter-weighted closure inthe sidelof the stack or inwthe side of thechimneyxso regulated that wherilthe-updraftor pullof the chimney is greater than the desired draftjupon the fire, the pressure of the outsideair will cause the damper to rotateand admit j additional air into the stack or chimney. It; such adamperisapplied to the fstackor pipe between the furnace and the" chimney within the furnace room then theair is exhausted from the furnace room, requiring the provisionof additional ventilation to the room, which is undesirable especiallyin cold weather. I I It is an object. of thisiinvention to provide a combination of the butterflydamper mounted within the staek leading fromlthe furnace to the chimney with acounter-balancedjpivoted damper in such amahner that when the .up-draft or i In! suction becomes greater than desired, the external pressureupon the counterbalanced damper will, cause it, to rotate, without admitting air to the stack, and impart a motion damper to close and reduce the area through which the gases of combustion pass on the way to i the chimney.

With these andother objects in view, reference is made to the accompanying sheet of drawings which illustrates preferred embodiments of this invention with the understanding that minor detail changes may be from the scope thereof.

In the drawing: Figure 1 isa view partly in side elevationand partly in vertical central section through a section of stove pipe employed as a stack leading made without departing I from a furnace to the chimney and to which this invention has been applied;

Figure 2 is a view in right-hand end elevation of Figure 1. I

usually in. the

indicator 4 is of the to the butterfly the rod 9 whereby the opening 1 is closed by the plate 8 if it is caused to rotate I 111., acorporati onof Illinois a dpplication october 24. 1934, Serial Ntfl'ziasse Figure 3is a top planview of a similar section of stove pipe towhich a modified form of this invention has been applied. I

- Figure 4 isja view in side elevation of Figure 3. Figure 5fis a view in right-hand end elevation of Figures. 1 I

The section of stove pipe I, as shown in Figures land 2, is provided with a butterfly damper 2 of circular form mounted upon a rod 3 passing through a diameter of the pipe I which is provided with a'right angular exterior portion t extending at right angles to the surface of the damper} which acts not only as a counterweightbut also" as an indicator as to the position'of 'thedarnper, It is preferable to mount the damper {concentrically within the pipe I and form it of such a diameter that when in the closed position or in a position in which the parallelto the axis of the pipe i, approximately'eighty percent of the area through which the gases of combustion pass is obstructed or cut off by the closed damper 2; l I

The pipe I is provided'with a rectangular open ing 5 in the bottom extending upwardlyupon each side to a plane parallel to and slightly below the axis of the pipe I andwith one verticaledge adjacent the rod 3 of the damper 2. The opening is provided with a depending rectangular housing 6 extending below the bottom of the pipe I. v The bottom opening T of the housingis closed by a rectangular plate or damper 8 pivotally' mounted at the end adjacent the damper f2 uponarod 9 passing through the opposite walls of the housing B, with the free end plate 8 resting upon a flange ll! of an arcuateplate l I formed concentrically with the rod S and extending upwardly and inwardly be-- tween the side walls ofthe housing and terminated at the upper extremity with a flange l2 extending radially therefrom in the direction of substantially about therod 9 between the flanges Ill and I 2. The under side of the plate 8 mounts a support I3 extending beyond and to the right of the rod 9 for supporting a counter-weight l4 whereby by proper adjustment of'the counterweight It the plate 8 would act as a valve. In the event that .the pull orvacuum through the open or unobstructed pipe I to the chimney becomes greater than desired, then the external pressure rotates the plate 8 about its pivot 9.

To actuate the damper 2 upon the operation oi the valve or plate 8, an operating rod I5 is com nected to the plate 8 and to the butterfly damper upon the damper 'of the pipe I, pivoted at 2 in such a relation that when the plate 8 is in the closed position parallel to the axis of the pipe I, the damper 2 is in its open position in a plane coincident with the axis of the pipe I. When, on account of atmospheric changes, the pull or vacuum caused by the up-draft of the chimney lncreases beyond that most desirable for proper combustion within the furnace, the outside atmospheric pressure upon the lower or exterior side of the plate 8 imparts a rotation to the plate about its pivot 9 which is transmitted to the damper 2 causing the damper 2 to rotate about its pivot 3 to obstruct the passage of the gases of combustion through the pipe I in accordance with the excess of the pull or vacuum. The arcuate plate ll acts as a closure for the housing 6 so that as the valve 8 is rotated, substantially no atmospheric air is drawn into the pipe I. The flange I2 is formed in such a relation that when the plate 8 engages the flange l2, the damper 2 will have completed its closing or obstructing motion and will be perpendicular to the lower side of the pipe I. As the atmospheric conditions vary, causing a variation in the pull of the updraft of the. chinmey, the action of the valve 8 2 compensates for these variations so that a substantially constant draft will be created for the proper combustion of the fuel within the furnace.

In the form illustrated in Figures 3, 4, and 5, a rectangular opening it is formed preferably upon the upper side of the pipe section I. The opening I6 is provided with a closure 11 preferably curved in conformity with the curvature one end upon a rod l8 mounted in brackets, I9 secured upon the exterior of the pipe I adjacent the furnace end of the opening l6. An arm 20 is secured centrally of the closure l1 adjacent the pivot l8, between the pivot and the free end of the closure, extending at right angles to the longitudinal center line of the closure and then bent to extend parallel thereto, clearing the side of the pipe I. The extension is in the direction of the pivoted end and extends therebeyond to mount a counterweight 2l which is so adjusted as to normally maintain the closure in open position, as shown in Figure 4. I

The free end of the closure I1 is provided with depending and end side portions 22 and 23, respectively. The end 22 is formed on the arc of a circle concentric with the axis of the pivot rod l8 and is provided with an outstanding stop 24 adjacent the lower end thereof adapted to engage the inner side of the pipe I to limit the outward movement thereof, in which position it will normally be held by the counter-weight 2|. The lower portion of the end 22 is preferably cut 22 are such that when away on the arc of a circle, as shown in Figure 5. The sides 22 depend in parallel relation from the longitudinal edges of the 'closure l1 and are joined to the end 22.

When the vacuum or pull caused by the updraft of the chimney becomes greater than desired for proper combustion, the external atmospheric pressure will cause the closure H to rotate about its pivot It so that the curved end 22 will obstruct the passage of the gases of combustion through the pipe I. The proportions of the dimensions of the opening Hi and arcuate end the external pressure has rotated the closure I! to cause the lower portions of the end 22 to engage the interior of the pipe I, the said end 22 will obstruct approximately of the passage through the pipe I.

It is seen that by this construction the closure I! with the end 22 forms an automatic draft regulator in which the end 22 corresponds to the damper 2 andthe closure l1 corresponds to the damper 8, shown in Figure 1 of the drawing.

A device constructed in accordance with this invention provides an automatic draft regulator which automatically obstructs or frees the passage of gas through the pipe I in accordance with the variable changes in atmospheric conditions without admitting air at a lower temperature than the gases of combustion to enter the stack or pipe joining the furnace to the chimney, and, furthermore, does not draw, warm air from the furnace room into the chimney.

What I claim is:

An automatic draft regulator for furnaces including a cylindrical casing forming a portion of and of the same diameter as the stack leading the products of combustion from the furnace to the chimney, a rectangular section cut longitudinally from said casing and pivotally mounted thereupon at the end adjacent the furnace, the free end of said section provided with a curved depending portion adapted to enter and engage the side of the casing opposite said out out section when the pivoted section lies in the normal plane of the stack, a stop on the bottom of said curved portion to engage the under side of the casing to limit the outward rotation of the pivoted section, said section provided with oppositely disposed depending longitudinal sides joined to said end portion to close the opening in the easing when the said stop is engaged therewith, and a counterweight mounted upon the pivoted section to normally rotate the section to engage said stop with the casing and allow opposite rotation in proportion to chimney suction to cause the curved end portion to act as a damper to restrict the gas travel through the stack.

ORLO H. PRICE. 

